Poetry Pea - haiku and other English Language Japanese short forms

Rivers have always carried stories. In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we follow their winding course through a carefully curated collection of contemporary haiku and senryū, alongside classic poems that continue to inspire writers today.
These tiny poems explore rivers as places of connection and separation, memory and movement, peace and conflict. From quiet birdsong to distant sirens, from bridges that unite to waters that divide, each haiku offers a fresh perspective on one of poetry's oldest and richest images.
Featured poets:
Johnny Moran
Kim Klugh
Melissa Dennison
Mona Bedi
Rupa Anand
Jacek Margolak
Anjali Warhadpande
Paul Callus
Lakshmi Iyer
Sandip Chauhan
Vikram Kolmannskog
Arvinder Kaur
Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, India
Tony Williams
Corinne Timmer 
Minal Sarosh
Ian Richardson
Rowan Beckett Minor, PPJ 3:25
Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
Anthony Lusardi
Robin Rich
Caroline Ridley-Duff
Janice Doppler
Okamoto Kanoko, trs Makoto Ueda 
Maya Daneva
Buson, trs RH Blyth 
Roger Ishii
David Cox

If you write haiku, senryū or Japanese short-form poetry, this episode is full of inspiration for your own writing. And don't forget to visit the Poetry Pea YouTube channel to take part in this month's video prompt, guest-edited by Lakshmi Iyer—there's still time to leave your poem in the comments.
Subscribe to the Poetry Pea Podcast for weekly episodes celebrating haiku, senryū, haibun, tanka, poetry craft, interviews with leading poets, and practical inspiration for writers at every stage of their journey.
See you next week.
This week's episode page

In the final episode of this three-part series on noun poetry, Patricia reads a wonderful collection of listener poems, inspired by the nouns. This episode examines how carefully chosen images can evoke emotion without relying on explanation or abstract language.
With practical analysis and inspiring examples, this episode offers valuable insights for anyone looking to write stronger haiku, senryū and short-form poetry.
Whether you're a seasoned poet or just beginning your haiku journey, you'll come away with a deeper appreciation of the power of images, the importance of observation and the quiet magic that happens when nouns are allowed to do the work.
There's a little bit of homework for you this week, check the show notes.
Subscribe to the Poetry Pea Podcast for weekly conversations about haiku, senryū, haibun and the craft of Japanese short-form poetry. And if you enjoy the show, please leave a review and share it with a fellow poet—it really helps the podcast grow.
Poets Featured today:
Rebecca Upjohn
Andrea Cisco
Jeannie Harkema
Ralph Matthews
Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
Steve Bahr
Cynthia Anderson
Seamus O’Connor
Lorraine Padden
Kim Klugh
Susan Andrews
Melissa Dennison
Jenny Shepherd
Rupa Anand
Mark Forrester
Tony Williams
Alicia Samson 
Katie Montagna
Christine Wenk-Harrison
Jonathan English
Emil Karla
Sangita Kalarickal
Elliot Diamond
Richard Tice
Neena Singh
Bisshie

Can a haiku be lyrical without relying on verbs? Can a handful of carefully chosen nouns carry all the emotional weight a poem needs?
In this second episode exploring the poetry of nouns, Patricia examines how concrete images create resonance, rhythm and lyricism in haiku and senryū. Drawing on poems by:
Alan Summers
Radostina Dragostinova
Hifsa Ashraf
Laura Driscoll
Sharon Lynne Yee
Mark Gilbert
Paul m
Christopher Peys
Máire Morrissey-Cummins
Lovette Carter
Katie Montagna
James Young
Eve Castle
Kikaku
Patricia explores the idea that the reader becomes a co-poet, discovering meaning in the spaces between images.
Along the way, you'll hear discussions of the arrested moment, juxtaposition, movement without verbs, and the surprising musicality that emerges from noun-heavy poetry.
Whether you're an experienced haiku poet or just beginning your journey into Japanese short-form poetry, this episode offers practical insights into writing more evocative, image-driven work.
In this episode:
Why concrete nouns can create powerful lyricism
Haiku without verbs and the illusion of movement
The role of juxtaposition and reader participation
The "arrested moment" in lyric poetry

The Poetry Pea Podcast is a weekly podcast for haiku, senryū and haibun writers, featuring poetry, craft discussions, interviews and inspiration for poets around the world.
Show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we explore why haiku has often been described as "the poetry of the noun" and ask whether removing verbs and limiting adjectives can make a poem even more powerful.
Through close readings of haiku by John Wills, Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Charles Rossiter, Noel King, Choshi, Anne Curran, and Bisshie, we discover how concrete nouns create atmosphere, emotion and meaning without explanation. We look at Edward Hirsch's idea of the "arrested moment" and Michael Dylan Welch's advice to write not about your feelings, but about what caused them.
Can a poem made almost entirely of nouns hold a reader's attention? Can omission create deeper emotional resonance than description? And how we should trust readers to make their own connections?
If you write or love haiku, senryū, Japanese poetry, imagist poetry, or minimalist writing, this episode offers practical insights and examples to inspire your own work.
Plus, there's a new writing challenge: can you create a noun-heavy, no-verb haiku that invites the reader to join the dots? If you can get it to me by the 16th June, 2026 it might make it into another podcast and the next journal.
Join us for an episode about the remarkable power of concrete imagery.
Links in the show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia shares a fresh collection of haiku and senryu from Poetry Pea’s much-loved Flashku submissions — a spontaneous 24-hour poetry challenge open to poets on the Poetry Pea mailing list.
Featuring poems by Nalini Shetty, Robert Witmer, Sébastien Revon, Emil Karla, Steve Bahr, Katie Montagna, Deborah A Bennett, Samo Kreutz, Cynthia Anderson, Sara Winteridge, John Hare, Mark Forrester, Robin Rich, Tony Williams, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy and Elliot Diamond
Along the way there’s a heartfelt apology to Ralph Matthews for previously misspelling his name in the journal — now happily corrected.
The episode finishes with a delightful selection of one-line poems from the Poetry Pea archives and the Little Marvels anthologies, including work by Lev Hart, Kim Klugh, Nitu Yumnam, Sarah Paris, Srinivas S, Faye Brinsmead, Kat Lehmann, Willie R Bongcaron, Daniela Misso, Rashmi VeSa, Debbie Strange, Craig Kittner and Anjali Warhadpande.
If you enjoy small poems filled with observation, atmosphere and quiet surprise, this episode is for you.
Submissions for Poetry Pea’s current one-line poem window are open until 15th June. Visit the Poetry Pea website for details, workshops, submission opportunities and the latest Submission Agenda.
Episode webpage